Using feedback to communicate assessment standards

Sharon Curtis and Rachel Long, School of Technology

In the School of Technology, for some modules there exists an automated feedback system, which provides students with regular feedback on their work. Individualised questions are emailed to students each week, and they get a computer-generated personalised sheet with detailed feedback on their work, during the following week’s lecture.

During this academic year, ASKe helped to fund a project for which one of the aims was to improve the quality of the feedback students receive, in order to better prepare them for their assessed pieces of work. This involved a change of perspective where staff imagined themselves in the shoes of students to consider what kind of information students would want to know about what was expected of them for their assessments.

This practice paper looks at case studies from the modules where the feedback system has been used, and presents some analysis of the results, including: the impact on students in preparing for their assessments, perceptions of the system from students and staff, feedback to staff on their teaching, and data concerning engagement and module pass rates. Also, the consequences of trying to improve the quantity and quality of feedback on students' work are considered. Thus this talk will be of particular relevance to module leaders interested in improving students' satisfaction with the feedback they get.